IN THIS ISSUE:

Acknowledgement. Don’t confuse acknowledgement with compliment. Acknowledgement is a valuable skill that builds relationships and performance. Learn what to look for and how to do it well.

Frog Pond: Reflections from a Values-Based Organization. The Buzz on Fair Trade Coffee. Whether you take it black, double-double or decaf, the coffee you drink at work can both taste good and make a difference.

What’s Out There. Coffee Art. We “lighten up” the coffee topic with the “cream” of coffee art web images.

The Culinary Coach. Sour Cream Coffee cake. Okay, so you could’ve called that one. But we guarantee you’ll love this recipe. Suitable for any coffee break.

If you would like a printable version of this newsletter, please visit www.sageportfoliogroup.com/archives.html

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Acknowledgement
By Sylvia Goodeve, ACC

“Each person’s greatest room for growth is in the areas of his or her greatest strength.” - Now, Discover Your Strengths, Marcus Buckingham & Donald O. Clifton.

Acknowledgement is the process of bringing out the best in others, by endorsing who they are. Ongoing acknowledgement and celebration improves the performance of professional athletes; similarly, it applies to individuals in all walks of life. Whether you are a manager, supervisor, parent, colleague, friend, sibling, offspring – we can all benefit from more acknowledgement in our lives.

There is a distinction to draw between acknowledging and complimenting someone. Complimenting is to share what you like about someone, their actions or their possessions; whereas acknowledging a person is to compliment who they are. Acknowledging goes deep to the heart of who someone is.

Can you remember a time when you truly felt acknowledged? What difference did it make for you? Personally, when I am being recognized for who I am, I feel validated, more confident, and inspired to continue being the best I can be. Do you want the best for the people in your life? Do you want them to be the best they can be? Do you want them to have strength to go to the next level? Acknowledge them!

What are some benefits of acknowledging?

* Builds rapport
* Strengthens relationships
* Inspires furthering and strengthening the attribute
* Builds on strengths
* Empowers the individual to keep growing
* Inspires courage to go to the next level

Here are some tips or techniques to consider employing in your practice of acknowledging:

* Endorse who they are
* Be their advocate
* Be direct, compassionate and respectful
* Focus on strengths
* Acknowledge their actions and results
* Celebrate success and even small wins
* Congratulate and give praise
* Be unconditionally constructive

Coaching Challenge:
Acknowledge at least one person, every day for a week. (Not the same person every day; Mix it up!) Observe how your relationships improve and what other benefits arise.

 

The Buzz on Fair Trade Coffee
By Jennifer Dawson

Coffee is the world’s second most valuable commodity: only oil beats out the bean. It is also a staple in most office environments. In honour of National Fair Trade Weeks, celebrated across Canada May 1st to 15th, we’re spilling the beans on how coffee purchases can become a practical and simple way to align corporate procurement decisions with progressive social values.

When directly confronted with the facts, few would outright admit that they are in support of child labour, dangerous working conditions, environmental degradation, and paying people below a living wage. But when it comes to buying office supplies—whether for a small company or a large corporation—considerations such as the way a product was made or grown may be supplanted by other factors. Can we get it from a current supplier? How expensive is it? Do we get a corporate discount? And do they deliver? We argue that when fair trade is an option, it is a worthwhile corporate investment. Purchasing fair trade coffee for the office is an easy and relatively inexpensive way to demonstrate corporate values such as equity, fairness, environmental responsibility and global social investment.

So what is fair trade? Fair trade is an internationally-based way of doing business that provides fair prices to farmers and workers in developing countries, promotes sustainable environmental practices, improves social services, and invests in local economic infrastructure. While the fair trade movement began about 60 years ago, it was in the 1980s that an international system of fair trade labelling and certification was introduced. Fair trade products include coffee, tea, rice, bananas, mangoes, cocoa, sugar, flowers, chocolate, honey, fruit juices, wine, clothing and sports balls.

Why fair trade coffee? In order to increase short-term productivity, poorer quality (“robusta”) beans are grown on huge coffee plantations, which are created by clear-cutting forest and kept viable by large inputs of chemical pesticides and fertilizers. For every pound of coffee sold in North America, workers on coffee plantations make less than 14¢ US. But small scale coffee farmers—who make up more than half of the coffee producers globally—don’t fare much better. Forced to sell their coffee to mercenary mid-level traders, farmers make around 35¢ US a pound, too little to support their families and their farm. They go into debt (often to those same mercenary mid-level traders) and, unable to make the high interest payments, lose their land.

Fair trade coffee is a taste-good, feel-good alternative. While world coffee prices are set by the capricious New York and London Stock Exchanges, the 5 million farmers involved in fair trade relationships are guaranteed a minimum of $1.26 US per pound of coffee they produce—an amount which allows farmers to cover costs and pay for their daily needs—and are given a bonus for growing organic beans. These farmers sell to cooperatives and have access to low-interest loans, develop long-term trading relationships, and are provided with information and support for sustainable farming practices. Fair trade coffee is the higher quality “Arabica” beans, which are grown in the shade of the forest canopy and thus do not lead to deforestation.

Unfortunately, not every product that says it is “fair trade” has been certified; in 2006 more than 450 tonnes of coffee claiming to be “fair trade” had not undergone the rigorous certification process necessary to use the logo of an official fair trade certification body. In Canada, certification is provided by TransFair Canada. Look for the TransFair logo on any coffee you purchase. 

Businesses concerned about the bottom line may balk at the common perception that fair trade equals expensive. In reality, there is little price difference between fair trade coffee and non-fair trade high quality “gourmet” brands. At Sage Portfolio Group, we’ve purchased our office supplies of fair trade coffee from Reunion Island and Mountainview Estates, but the TransFair web site makes finding your own fair trade coffee supplier easy. Visit the search page http://www.transfair.ca/en/products/ and enter your terms. You’ll know the coffee served in your company is truly good to the last drop.

Web resources:
http://www.transfair.ca/
http://www.globalexchange.org/campaigns/fairtrade/coffee/
http://www.oxfamamerica.org/newsandpublications/publications/research_reports/mugged
http://www.cbc.ca/news/background/fair-trade/

Frog Pond: Reflections from a values-based organization is a monthly column that explores the connection between business and social responsibility. The title for the column comes from the last, but perhaps most profound, of the five values upon which Sage Portfolio Group has been built. We call it "frog pond". Sitting beside the frog pond at Sage Portfolio Group's head office in Dundas, Ontario on a warm summer evening with a glass of wine and meal made from locally grown organic produce has taught us to value local roots and global consciousness, quiet contemplation and sharing with others, dreaming big and common sense. Articles written for this column take the abstract principles of Sage Portfolio Group's "frog pond" value and make them both real and useful. Dip your toe to test the water ... or dive right in!

Coffee Art

In keeping with this month’s coffee theme, we selected our favourites from pics compiled on this web site: http://pileofphotos.com/view/25/Have_a_little_fun_with_your_coffee. The original source of each photo can be found by clicking on the image. We challenge you to experiment with your own coffee art next time you’re searching for inspiration for a project or having a dull coffee break; creativity might work its way in with the caffeine.

What's Out There is a monthly column highlighting the ingenious, wacky or merely weird in the business world today -- people, organizations or subjects that push boundaries, break down barriers or build bridges in novel or unexpected ways. Sage Portfolio Group does not necessarily endorse the ideas presented in What's Out There, but we do feel that bringing forward the innovative or unusual opens our minds to new possibilities, enhances creativity and helps identify our own values. Far out, man.

Sour Cream Coffee Cake

Perfect for any break-time office gathering, this deliciously simple coffee cake has a sweet family history; every Christmas morning a young Melanie Parish would gather with her grandparents, Sutter and Bubba, and her parents, brother, aunt, uncle and cousins for their traditional holiday egg dish and this coffee cake. Melanie’s family always made one cake with nuts and one without; the pecans for the nut-lover’s cake came from Bubba’s tree. According to family lore, the cake only tasted good when it was made at Christmas-time, but it’s definitely the best coffee cake recipe we know and we dare you to make it anyway!

2 cups sugar
1 cup sour cream
1 cup butter
¼ tsp salt
2 cups flour
1 tsp baking powder
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla

Topping:
1 tsp cinnamon
1 cup chopped pecans
4 tbsp brown sugar

Mix cake ingredients. Pour half of batter into greased and floured bundt pan. Sprinkle with half of topping mixture. Pour in rest of cake batter and sprinkle with remaining topping mixture. Bake at 350 degrees for 45 to 50 minutes.

The Culinary Coach is Melanie Parish, founder and CEO of Sage Portfolio Group. Good food is about culture, community, family, physiology and fun. Each month we share one of Melanie's tried-and-true recipes in celebration of the power of food to strengthen, nurture and inspire. Cheers!

This month’s contributors:

Sylvia Goodeve, ACC, is an Associate Certified Coach and member of the International Coach Federation with over 13 years of progressive leadership experience in the Information Technology field. She worked across a breadth of sectors (high-tech, telecommunications, financial services, crown corporations and management consulting) and developed the ability to work effectively with diverse groups and individuals at all organizational levels. Sylvia coaches senior managers and professionals, to “interrupt business as usual” to gain clarity and insight. Sylvia is a member of Toastmasters International and a volunteer instructor with the International Taoist Tai Chi Society.

Jennifer Dawson is a cultural anthropologist, writer, and coordinator of corporate services for Sage Portfolio Group.

The Leading Edge is published monthly by Sage Portfolio Group and written for a readership that includes coaching clients, human resource professionals, business leaders, fellow coaches and the occasional aspiring gourmand. Our goal is to offer a combination of wisdom and wit--sourced from our own in-house experts and other respected leaders in the field--in an easy-to-access e-zine format. A hard copy version is published bi-annually. We welcome editorial questions, comments and story ideas; please direct these to the editor, Jennifer Dawson, at jen (at) sageportfoliogroup.com. If you find value in the articles we invite you to pass them on to a friend with the recommendation to sign up directly for The Leading Edge at www.sageportfoliogroup.com. Articles from The Leading Edge can be reproduced in an in-house publication provided that Sage Portfolio Group is credited for the article.